Beijing Contemporary Dance Theater (BCDT) has cooked up something a little different for the 60th birthday party of New China. It's latest offering, Prism, is a triple bill from three rising foreign choreographers, who have produced original works for the occasion.

The troupe's artistic director and choreographer Wang Yuanyuan has, for a change, taken a back seat for the production that will premiere today at the People's Liberation Army Theater.

It is one of 12 shows selected by the Beijing municipal government to mark six decades of the People's Republic of China and the only one featuring international artists. These are Sweden's Pontus Lidberg, Louise Midjord from Denmark, and Nadine Thouin of Canada. They have been collaborating throughout the summer with BCDT, in Beijing.

It is also BCDT's first annual collaboration with international artists and fittingly for a contemporary dance group has an experimental feel. None of the pieces are thematically connected and this allowed the choreographers to create without constraint, Wang says.

Two dancers rehearsing Map of Me (and You), one act of dance show Prism choreographed by Denmark's Louise Midjord. [Jules Quartly]

"Triple bills rarely work, they are very difficult to pull off, but this worked out great. I think it's a strength that they have different directions and it's better for the audience," she says.

"A prism suggests seeing things from different angles and we hope that in our creative processes we can help each other see from the other side."

The only Chinese element in the three disparate works is the appearance of a fan in Lidberg's piece, Luminous, which caused Wang to comment that: "He's going to be more Chinese than us."

Actually, this turned out not to be the case. At a recent preview, the choreographer's signature innovative classical European style was clearly evident.

Lidberg has a reputation for producing dance pieces for movies as well as the stage and his best-known work, Rain, won an award at the Dance Media Honors in Los Angeles.

"Of the three acts, Lidberg's choreography is the most challenging," says dancer Wu Shanshan. "He is extremely precise in his directing and subtle in his expression. His simple lines and lyricism look simple but are actually very difficult to master."

She says the three choreographers introduced new techniques and their various approaches gave her a fresh appreciation of the value of different styles.

Midjord's offering, Map of Me (and You), is more emotional in scope. It is autobiographical in conception and describes the break-up of her relationship and the beginning of another.

This is clear from the action, which is powerful, passionate and slightly troubled at times. The dancers appear in underwear, further accentuating the idea of an intensely private experience.

The former dancer and now choreographer with the Royal Danish Ballet says she was inspired by a French book published in 1654, Map of Tenderness, that describes a place that doesn't exist. "It's like a map of human emotions to help us navigate these confusions. I had just finished a long relationship and made a map of what I understood about it."

Of the working process, Midjord says that initially it was difficult to get the dancers to bare their emotions but they were hungry to learn. "In the beginning it was different because of the culture perhaps, but when the barriers came down it was interesting and created an energy."

Thouin, another prize-winning choreographer, whose ties with Wang Yuanyuan go back 10 years, emphasizes the "freedom of pure dance" and "giving people a voice".

Her piece, White, has an engaging original score from Michel Drapeau that allows the corps to express itself with a wide range of lively and unusual movements.

"Lies and hypocrisy have never been so present. Rights and liberties are not conceded," is how she introduces the piece on her website. "This spectacular masquerade leads us slowly through an irreversible chasm of ignorance and slavery."

It's a brave piece that underlines the spirit of opening-up that Wang Yuanyuan's BCDT is fostering.

"Artistically speaking, I did not play an instrumental role in this particular production. I gave my three choreographers complete space and the freedom to express themselves without limitations," she says.

(China Daily August 28, 2009)